The What

3

 Securing the rope around his wrists, she plopped him down in a kitchen chair, making sure his arms wrapped around the high back of the chair.

"Alright." She sat across from him and kept her gun pointed at his chest. "Explain yourself."

"Is this really necessary?" he asked, tugging at his bound wrists.

"Absolutely. Now start talking or I'll put you outside. You didn't seem too keen on being out there. Why?"

His playful manner turned abruptly serious, his eyes throwing off a darker light. "There are things out there you wouldn't want to meet. Not even with a gun in your hand. Trust me when I tell you that I am not the worst thing that could have shown up at your doorstep tonight."

"But definitely the most annoying." she quipped.

"You wanted an answer, I'm giving you an answer. These lands aren't as safe as they used to be, Katarina. You can't go off on your own anymore."

"Don't you dare tell me what to do on my land. Why are you here? And how do you know my name?"

"We've met before."

"No we haven't."

"Yes, we have. You just don't remember."

"That doesn't make any sense." She sighed.

"Yes it does. You've seen Sleeping Beauty, right?"

She blinked. "I'm sorry?"

He grinned. "Sleeping Beauty. You know? We've met before." At her blank look, he started singing. "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream. I know you, the gleam in your eyes in so familiar a gleam."

"Why do you know so much about Sleeping Beauty?"

"I have a younger sister. You've been having dreams right? Dreams about a little blonde boy?"

She looked him over, wondering how the hell he could know something like that. He couldn't, there was no way. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do. Listen, I am that little boy, just not so little anymore, if you know what I mean." He raised his eyebrow suggestively.

She looked at him like he was an idiot.

He sighed impatiently, "Listen, I know it's hard to believe but it's true. I was the little boy you saw that night, the night your dad disappeared. Except he didn't disappear, he was taken."

"By who?"

"They're classified as what, actually. There's the haunts, which are southern versions of wendigos. And then there are cupagente, which are like chupacabras but they eat people instead. Of course there's spirits and ghosts from cowboys and maidens and whatnot, but there's also something new that we don't have a name for yet. We think they could be lechuzas, but they're too large and spend most of their time in human form. And when they take human shape, they look like men instead of old women. Anyways, if the haunts or the cupagente had taken your father, his body would've been found by now. The cupagente leave mangled bodies that are found after a couple days of looking, usually thought to be some freak boar or coyote attack or something. And, while the haunts usually stick to caves, they always dispose of the bones of their victims a couple miles off to-... what?"

He stopped talking when he saw the look on her face. She'd gone pale, her eyebrows creased in extreme confusion. "What the actual fuck are you talking about?"

"Listen, I know it sounds insane, but-"

"It doesn't just sound insane," she snapped, jumping to her feet and pacing over to the stove, stirring the taco meat in the pan and turning the stove off. "It is insane. None of that stuff exists. Chupacabras are myths, some drunk probably saw a coyote going at a goat and thought it was some sort of monster. And I dunno what the fuck a wendigo is. Lechuzas are also fake, and there's no such thing as ghosts! God, are you on some sort of high or something, cause you're massively tripping."

She set about making herself a taco while he said, "I'm telling you the truth. I know how it sounds and you aren't going to believe me but that's how it is. Why would I make this up?"

"Like I said, you're tripping balls on LSD or something." She sat at the table and began eating her dinner.

"You're not gonna share?"

"Wasn't planning on it. Don't think you're going to be here much longer."

He fought back a smile like she'd said something funny and she scrunched her eyebrows at him. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Mm." She grunted noncommittally, her mouth full of food, and swung herself up out of her chair. She opened the fridge. "Want something to drink before you go?"

"We're not done talking."

"Why not? You're crazy, I'm done with it, I have a lot to do tomorrow."

"Because you need to get out of here. It's dangerous out there. I don't need to be worrying about you while I'm working."

She slammed her coke down on the table. "This is my land, now. Not yours. You have no right to be here, and especially no right to try to scare me with your nonsense. Now, I'm tired. So you can either walk outside a free man, or I can put you outside in your chair. Bound hands and all."

"I choose none of the above." That infuriating grin was back on his face.

"That is not a choi-" CRACK

She jumped at the sound of lightning. Texas storms sneak up on you when you're not looking, especially in the summer, and they can be hard and dangerous to be out in. With a sigh, she glared in his direction.

He shrugged.

"Fine." She tapped her nail on the coke can a couple times before she cracked it open. "I'll untie you. Make one move at me, and I will shoot you so fast, you won't even see me draw my gun."

"Sounds like a plan."

She untied him and he rubbed at his wrists. He raised his eyebrows at her suggestively. "How do you plan to past the time?"

"With your mouth shut. I'm gonna beat your ass at Blackjack."

"Oh, bring it on."